Season 3: Assorted Jungling Thoughts

Jungling is my forte, and I keep all my jungle setups in a document for when time and disuse lead to forgetfulness. As you might imagine, Season 3's jungle revamp has made my current document obsolete, warranting a lot of effort in updating it.

As I've been working my way through the list of forty or more champions, some more serious than others, there are a few trends that have come to my attention. It's early yet for there to be much certainty, but I'm confident in the following points.

First, there is a universal jungle setup which will more or less work for every single champion in the game. If you have but one rune page to spare for jungling, use this:

The Universal Jungle Rune Page:
Quints: Attack Speed
Marks: Attack Speed
Seals: Armor
Glyphs: Attack Speed

This page will not only work for 99% of junglers, but will most likely be the page that yields the fastest, and safest, clear time. Only Attack Speed scales the jungle-specific true damage on Hunter's Machete, so this isn't unexpected. The page is not optimal for all junglers, there are more considerations than just speed and safety (e.g. having enough Magic Resistance to not instantaneously die when ganking mid), but as far as universal pages go this is the most effective there's ever been.

Second, there is far less leeway for optimizing a jungle setup. In Season 2 jungling was easy enough that most of a jungle setup could be oriented towards concerns outside of the jungle. Season 3, being far less forgiving, demands that the bulk of one's attention be paid toward clearing the jungle. Some junglers have more leeway than others, but the majority make themselves more vulnerable and less effective early if they sacrifice clearing speed and safety for other goals.

Finally, a much greater number of junglers are likely to be viable than before. This seems like it would be in contrast to my second point, but in fact it is not. Because almost all junglers have been forced to shift toward Machete + 5 Potions as an opening, junglers who previously were lacking in sustain, but not necessarily killing power, are now much more competitive. While I doubt that certain champions are serious contenders due to other issues (e.g. Cassiopeia and Malzahar could not possibly function without Blue), the potential pool has widened. Whether we see these new options or not is going to depend on the meta.

Nothing terribly exciting, but any tectonic shifts in the meta have only just begun their rumblings. If you're disappointed simply wait a few more weeks. By then the meta might be five bruisers all building as many Black Cleavers as possible.

Quote: On Rune Pages

"Very simple was my rune page, and plausible enough—as most wrong setups are!"

-H. G. Wells

Theory: Rune Pages

Rune pages are a luxury, and as with many luxuries they bring benefits to those who can afford them. A player with twenty rune pages has an obvious advantage over one with just two rune pages. The reason for this is intuitive; being able to carefully tailor a rune page to the specific needs of a champion greatly increases their effectiveness.

Building a rune page is something of an art. While most pages aren't "wrong" per se, finding the right rune page can make or break champions, match ups, and item builds. This takes time, effort, attention to detail, and most of all purpose.

Rune pages should focus on the following purposes or goals as they relate to a particular champion:

1. Avoiding awkward or costly itemization.
2. Shoring up a critical weakness.
3. Maximizing a strength/abuse case.
4. Countering a specific champion/match up.

All of these goals and purposes are primarily early-mid game concerns. While runes are still useful later in the game, their relative effectiveness drops as champions gain levels and items. The advantages of a late game rune page are so minuscule, and the early game cost so high, that it isn't remotely worthwhile to build or use one.

The best rune pages tend to address multiple purposes in an elegant way or take one purpose to an extreme. An good example of both is the pure Armor rune page.

For jungle Nautilus a pure Armor rune page serves multiple purposes. It improves his jungling speed (#2), increases his sustain (#2), and allows him to use more advantageous starting items (#1). The best alternatives might barely surpass the pure Armor rune page in speed, but only at the cost of sustain and starting item selection.

The pure Armor rune page can also be used against champions with absolutely obnoxious harass or early kill potential such as Pantheon, Yorick, or Garen. By going all in on defense it becomes possible to survive the early abuse of these match ups without needing a specific champion to counter them. This is an extreme measure, but more effective than being shut out of the game.

Not all rune pages will push champions over critical thresholds or apply in a multitude of situations, but that doesn't mean the effort is wasted. The further you progress as a player the more you'll encounter matches where lanes and skirmishes are won on razor-thin margins. The right rune page can change whether it's you or your opponent who walks away from kill with infuriatingly low health. It may take time, but the more you think about and experiment with rune pages the better you'll become at building them.